Founders Blushing Monk

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Draft at Capone’s. Ruby magentaish pour with smallish light pink head that faded away quickly. The aroma was great, a very intense freshly picked raspberry aroma that was natural and not at all Jolly Rancherish. The palate was pretty hefty, somewhat sticky, with tons of raspberry flavor, plus a dollop of earthy yeasty hints. This one stayed pretty tart throughout, seeming to get a little sweeter toward the finish, definitelt sweeter than Sly Fox Black Raspberry. I’d really love to side-by-side this with NG Tart and the Sly Fox Black Raspberry. This one was outstanding.

On draft @ Capones. Pours red with a small pink head. Aroma of raspberries and wheat. The flavor is sweet, raspberries, exceptionally smooth, with a moderate amount of carbonation. Good brew.

[Draft @ Capone’s] Poured a murky red brown color with no head, (nice head and lacing when poured from the bottle). Aroma of fresh raspberries, a bit of doughy yeast, and candy sugar. Taste of sweet raspberries, with vanilla, nuts, toffee, dry tannins (from the raspberry skins), and an alcohol burn on the way down. This is awfully similar to Rübæus, with just the minimal alcohol burn in the stomach.

On tap at Capone’s. Ruby reed color. Tastes of fresh and tart raspberries. Tangy and almost sour, leaves a citrus/lemon sense. I was working with a cold, so I really didn’t have a good palate, but I really couldn’t get past the raspberries to taste any grains or wheat. Not that that’s all bad.
Definitely approached NG Raspberry Tart. Maybe even surpassed it. Sure couldn’t taste the high alcohol. But does it need to be three times the price?

On tap at Capone’s Bells/Founders event. Pours a deep raspberry redwith a smaller pinkish head. Aroma was up front fresh raspberries, Belgian yeast...just an overall raspberry explosion. Flavors of the same. It’s hard for me to really describe Raspberry beers...but when they are good they are good and this one is good. Not artificial, nice mix of raspberries and light Belgian spices/yeast.

Draft @ Capone’s - Cloudy red color with a smallish head. Aroma has lots of raspberry, sugar, and some spice. Flavor has lots of raspberries and is plenty thick with malt. Very sweet, flavorful, and delicious with the 12%+ abv very well hidden. Great "summer seasonal" - a nice one to sip on from Founders.

Draught. Deep red body with nice thin head. Aroma is ripe raspberries, yeast and a sweet maltiness to it. Flavor has a nice raspberry taste, yeasty and slightly earthy with a thick cough syrup mouthfeel (but not in that bad cough syrup like taste).

On tap. Poured a deep ruby red color with a very small sized pink head. Aromas of raspberries and all around berries! Tastes of raspberries with some yeast in the background. Starts out sweet and ends nice and tart. Slightly syrupy body. Alcohol content well hidden. Raspberries are my favorite flavor for fruit beers and this one did not disappoint.